The subject of pattern analysis and recognition pervades many aspects of our daily lives, including user authentication in banking, object retrieval from databases in the consumer sector, and the omnipresent surveillance and security measures around sensitive areas. Shape analysis, a fundamental building block in many approaches to these applications, is also used in statistics, biomedical applications (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), and many other related disciplines.

With contributions from some of the leading experts and pioneers in the field, this self-contained, unified volume is the first comprehensive treatment of theory, methods, and algorithms available in a single resource. Developments are discussed from a rapidly increasing number of research papers in diverse fields, including the mathematical and physical sciences, engineering, and medicine.

This comprehensive guide offers a new approach for developing and implementing robust computational methodologies that uncover the key geometric and topological information from signals and images. With the help of detailed real-world examples and applications, readers will learn how to solve complex signal and image processing problems in fields ranging from remote sensing to medical imaging, bioinformatics, robotics, security, and defence. With an emphasis on intuitive and application-driven arguments, this text covers not only a range of methods in use today, but also introduces promising new developments for the future, bringing the reader up-to-date with the state of the art in signal and image analysis. Covering basic principles as well as advanced concepts and applications, and with examples and homework exercises, this is an invaluable resource for graduate students, researchers, and industry practitioners in a range of fields including signal and image processing, biomedical engineering, and computer graphics.